Record of Meeting pg 1 of 3
15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Where: Los Torres Community – front yard of a private house across from School
When: Saturday 22nd November 2008 12pm – 2.15pm
Who: Chela, Benigno & Holly – CEDESA, Bill Fisher (Patronato Pro Nino), Laura (Rotary), approx 50 women & 8 men (including the leaders Ma, Hilaria, Maria Leova, Maria Concepcion, Jose Miguel) from the Community (innumerable kids!).
General Project Purpose - SMA Rotary tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.
Assembly Purpose:
This assembly was called by the Leaders of the community of Los Torres so the community could discuss (& be made aware of) the issues they all face regarding water. Scarcity, fluoride contamination, municipal water deliveries, included.
The women “leaders” of LT visited CEDESA on the 7th November (see previous report). During the meeting they asked Chela to help facilitate this assembly.
Summary of the assembly
We arrived approx 11.30 & (as always) were immediately invited to a table brimming with tortillas, rice, beans etc.
The meeting was scheduled for 12. At about 12.30 some women & children started to arrive & mill about.
Around 12.50 Chela started the assembly. She improvised a white board from a table upended with large sheets of paper taped to it.
1st - the crowd was asked introduce themselves individually, ie say their name. People were a bit shy but all eventually said their names
Chela introduced CEDESA & its purpose & moved straight into discussions about fluoride contamination & who knew about it. Around 50% answered they had no idea, some knew it caused teeth problems, 1 woman told of her children crying at night with pain in their bones (& 3 others echoed her), they asked if that could be a symptom. (action – Laura to research this question)
Chela asked people to join in & forced interaction – the crowd was involved.
Record of Meeting pg 2 of 3
15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Chela made the following points:
It’s important that you get organised, become informed & find solutions
Fluoride is common here, it’s poisoning you, you need to think about your kids
You future is in your own hands
Do you want a future of life or death?
(to which someone jokingly responded “at least we’ll all die together”)
Your teeth are “manchado” (stained)
Little by little you are getting sick?
How many of you eat “instant lunches”? (some – not many)
How many of you drink coke? (a lot – but interestingly it’s probably less harmful than the water they’re drinking!)
Eating naturally is better
She spoke about the difference between a meeting & an assembly. With their input she defined the 2. She asked for a count of heads. Approx 50 women & 8 men, & since the community has 91 families, (approx 33 families were not represented) she declared the assembly to have a majority & therefore that they were able to make decisions on behalf of the community.
Purpose of an assembly:
Make decisions
Resolve problems
Make agreement
Analyse problems (our problems & those from caused by others)
In this case the problem is water, it is a problem for everyone, men, women & children.
She asked them - (& the crowd answered – with prompting) -
are we (Rotary & CEDESA) affected by your problems – “no – this problem affects you!”
who will help solve this problem? – “you need to look at what you can do for yourselves, work on the problems & solutions”
one of the men was invited to talk about the situation he said “we have to work together to solve the problems”
Can you wait to solve this? “no – it’s urgent”
Do you want to be sick? “no”
You need to collaborate & solve this immediately & for the future, the future of your kids is in your hands.
They all agreed they need to be part of the solution & not expect 1 person to solve it for them
Are the people in San Miguel drinking contaminated water? “no”
Do you know about the level of fluoride contamination in your water? “no”
Bacteria & fluoride are both in the water, bacteria is easier to control
It’s important to have healthy water for your body & your life
Record of Meeting pg 3 of 3
15th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
One woman spoke up & said “ they told us not to drink the water from the pozos, only drink from the water in the tanks that the trucks bring (some add chlorine drops, some boil the water), but they always run out. Some families don’t have water containers by the school for filling & when they get to the tanks they are usually empty.
Chela suggested they visit Sapasma & ask them to bring more water because there are many families here that are without.
She worked on Demand - calculations
Currently the delivery of less than 1 truck of water per wk is insufficient.
She asked how much water each family used.
3 different women with different sized families spoke up & they used quite different amounts per person.
They settled on an average of 5 ltrs per day per person for drinking & cooking (nb this is much higher than average use – our family for eg only uses around 3 ltrs max per day for this, although we drink other liquids than water)
Delegado said 450 people in the community (we have stats that say 434)
450 x 5 litres per day (or 35 litres per wk) = 16,000 litres per wk needed.
They have 2 tinacos of 5000 ltrs (& 2 of 1500 ltrs at the school) so close to the capacity they need.
They agreed they would visit SAPASMA & ask for more deliveries.
Note/comments:
We (Rotary & PPN) have already been to Sapasma on behalf of LT (& to the presidencia), we were told the resources to provide & deliver the water were not there.
The community is approx 45 minutes by truck from the main highway – which is 20 minutes from SMA. The trucks do deliveries to other communities on the way & so often can only deliver a partial truckload. There is also a shortage of trucks, & in the rainy season it is sometimes impossible to get through.
LT to Control their own water supply is a better solution.
The rain is there (in the season) why not catch it?
The information re the fluoride contamination was a “sledge hammer”, we (Rotary) had been reluctant to bring them the news of this. Chela did not hesitate.
I had to leave the meeting at this point. After I left a small group was appointed to visit Sapasma & ask for more water.
The next assembly date was set for Thursday 4th December 12pm
(Rotary & CEDESA will meet at 10am – at the “el cortijo” beside the highway turnoff, to discuss the project & it’s direction & the agenda for the next assembly, for a co-ordinated approach)
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
14th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project
Where: The Presidencia at the Municipal Buildings at the Glorieta beside the road to Los Rodriguez
When: Thursday 19th November 2008 2pm-5.15pm
Who: Enrique Nunez Martinez + 1 other (Secretario Technico – director of directors as we understand it), Ernesto Lopez (engineer Sapasma), Don Patterson + 2 others (director & engineers Ecology Dept), Chela Martinez, Benigno, Holly Yasui (CEDESA), Jose Miguel (Delegada of Los Torres) + 2 others, 4 members of the Montecillo de Nieto Community (Los Torres neighbours). Judy Fisher (representative from another NGO Patronato Pro Ninos), Laura Stewart (Rotary SMA midday),
General Project Purpose - SMA Rotary tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.
Meeting Purpose:
Judy Fisher instigated this meeting. She had had an earlier meeting as she described as follows:
I DID MEET WITH SALUD PALACIOS AND ENRIQUE NUNEZ (THE PEOPLE FROM THE PRESIDENCIA WHO ORGANIZED THE MEETING THE 19TH.) AT THE FIRST MEETING, ENRIQUE STATED THAT THE GREY WATER TRUCK FOR THE BATHROOMS AT THE SCHOOL CAME FROM AN ORDER FROM ECOLOGIA AND THE WATER FOR THE TINACOS CAME FROM SAPASMA. FOR THESE ORDERS THE PRESSURE DID COME FROM THE PRESIDENCIA, OFICINA CIUDADANA.
During the earlier meeting Enrique had suggested calling a meeting of all parties involved with the provision (or potential provision) of water to Los Torres. So that information could be transferred & a plan of sorts achieved.
Summary of Visit
We all met at the Presidencia & introduced ourselves. The entire meeting was in Spanish. I am not fully fluent & asked for clarification from Judy & Holly on points I thought I had missed.
Ecology Dept
Don Patterson led the meeting & talked in general about what the Ecology Dept does, ie environmental conservation, tree planting programs, water conservation efforts, the installation of water collection system at a clinic in San Augustin, & the planned implementation of more water collection systems in 9 more communities at a school or clinic level.
Points to note
a study done by Ecosciences in 2006 tested over 100 pozos (wells). The tests involved measuring the levels of fluoride, magnesium, arsenic & colioforms.
Pg 2 of 3
The study report indicated approx 20 community wells (affecting over 6000 people), contained higher than safe levels of one or more of the contaminants.
Of these 20 communities, the Ecology Dept have plans to provide water from roof collection (on schools &/or clinics) in 11 at risk communities in total.
This will provide safe drinking water during the school day for the children in these communities. It will not provide safe drinking water for the entire community.
They have insufficient funding to provide these measures to all of the affected communities at this point & the inference has been that any outside help would be gratefully accepted.
Over 50% of the pozos tested, tested positive for coliform, although no measures were made of the safe (or unsafe) levels.
(NB A lot of this information we/Rotary already knew as we have had a lot of contact with the Ecology department regarding exactly this. We also worked with them on our earlier San Miguel Viejo project – which replicated the model that the Ecology dept had done in San Augustin).
Don Patterson advised the communities that there was funding available for them to plant trees in their communities (the minimum average wage + trees would be provided by Ecology, but the community would have to approach & organise), the issue of how to water the trees would still have to be solved!
Sapasma is the local municipal govt. organisation responsible for the provision of water to the SMA region.
Ernesto Lopez – chief engineer (Rotary have had several meetings with Ernesto in the early stages of the scoping of this project), discussed their plans for the installation of a well in the upper part of the Los Torres community. The community has paid for a study into the feasibility of the drilling of a well in LT. Water does exist there, at a level of 180metres deep.
They are currently drilling a well. It will provide water for Los Torres & their neighbours Montecillo de Nieto (approx 15 mins drive away).
Points to note
Sapasma did not divulge how much this will cost the people of LT or Montecillo
The water has not been tested (is almost 100% likely to be contaminated with fluoride like the water less than 500 mtres away in the family wells in the lower community) so will likely be only useful for household & not Drinking water
The level of the lower community wells have been decreasing at the rate of more than 1 metre per year, just from single household use. There has been no taking into account how quickly the aquifer will drop given that they plan to pipe it to the houses in 2 communities.
Water consumption increases dramatically when it is provided on tap & does not have to be carried!
Water consumption also increases when the consumption per family is hard to measure (ie when it is on tap with no water meter)
Pg 3 of 3
CEDESA
Chela introduced herself & her organisation’s purpose, ie to help camposinos live a sustainable existence & stay on the land.
She had some interesting questions for Sapasma about the sustainability of their approach & the extreme cost to the communities (both financially & cost to the environment). It was agreed that a combination of water supply was necessary as it’s currently not cost effective to build a cistern big enough to supply water to the entire community for all water needs.
She described the technologies that CEDESA teaches & asked the community leaders if there was an interest in – for example – dry toilets, water collection, back yard gardens, bee-keeping. They said they were very interested.
Rotary I explained that Rotary was very interested in helping in the area of Water. That we were looking to make the biggest difference to the most people for the least amount of money & briefly described our plan/project (at this stage).
Enrique said that there is a new DVD available that contains info. about communities that need help with water. He said there are many communities that have no water. I pointed out that we have tried many times with many different departments to identify these & he said this DVD would do the trick.
I will email him for a copy of the DVD.
Enrique Nunez – the presidencia representative
Enrique was very receptive & pro-active (he called the meeting!). He is high level local govt. & is very keen for all of the govt departments & NGO’s to work alongside the community to resolve any issues.
He re-iterated that the door is always open – as did the other department directors.
Enrique called the next meeting for 28th January – 11am – Presidencia office.
When: Thursday 19th November 2008 2pm-5.15pm
Who: Enrique Nunez Martinez + 1 other (Secretario Technico – director of directors as we understand it), Ernesto Lopez (engineer Sapasma), Don Patterson + 2 others (director & engineers Ecology Dept), Chela Martinez, Benigno, Holly Yasui (CEDESA), Jose Miguel (Delegada of Los Torres) + 2 others, 4 members of the Montecillo de Nieto Community (Los Torres neighbours). Judy Fisher (representative from another NGO Patronato Pro Ninos), Laura Stewart (Rotary SMA midday),
General Project Purpose - SMA Rotary tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Specific Project determined: We are now working on the Los Torres project
to fund individual water collection systems for each household in Los Torres. We have verbal funding agreed of US$60K combined, from our North American Rotary Partner clubs.
Meeting Purpose:
Judy Fisher instigated this meeting. She had had an earlier meeting as she described as follows:
I DID MEET WITH SALUD PALACIOS AND ENRIQUE NUNEZ (THE PEOPLE FROM THE PRESIDENCIA WHO ORGANIZED THE MEETING THE 19TH.) AT THE FIRST MEETING, ENRIQUE STATED THAT THE GREY WATER TRUCK FOR THE BATHROOMS AT THE SCHOOL CAME FROM AN ORDER FROM ECOLOGIA AND THE WATER FOR THE TINACOS CAME FROM SAPASMA. FOR THESE ORDERS THE PRESSURE DID COME FROM THE PRESIDENCIA, OFICINA CIUDADANA.
During the earlier meeting Enrique had suggested calling a meeting of all parties involved with the provision (or potential provision) of water to Los Torres. So that information could be transferred & a plan of sorts achieved.
Summary of Visit
We all met at the Presidencia & introduced ourselves. The entire meeting was in Spanish. I am not fully fluent & asked for clarification from Judy & Holly on points I thought I had missed.
Ecology Dept
Don Patterson led the meeting & talked in general about what the Ecology Dept does, ie environmental conservation, tree planting programs, water conservation efforts, the installation of water collection system at a clinic in San Augustin, & the planned implementation of more water collection systems in 9 more communities at a school or clinic level.
Points to note
a study done by Ecosciences in 2006 tested over 100 pozos (wells). The tests involved measuring the levels of fluoride, magnesium, arsenic & colioforms.
Pg 2 of 3
The study report indicated approx 20 community wells (affecting over 6000 people), contained higher than safe levels of one or more of the contaminants.
Of these 20 communities, the Ecology Dept have plans to provide water from roof collection (on schools &/or clinics) in 11 at risk communities in total.
This will provide safe drinking water during the school day for the children in these communities. It will not provide safe drinking water for the entire community.
They have insufficient funding to provide these measures to all of the affected communities at this point & the inference has been that any outside help would be gratefully accepted.
Over 50% of the pozos tested, tested positive for coliform, although no measures were made of the safe (or unsafe) levels.
(NB A lot of this information we/Rotary already knew as we have had a lot of contact with the Ecology department regarding exactly this. We also worked with them on our earlier San Miguel Viejo project – which replicated the model that the Ecology dept had done in San Augustin).
Don Patterson advised the communities that there was funding available for them to plant trees in their communities (the minimum average wage + trees would be provided by Ecology, but the community would have to approach & organise), the issue of how to water the trees would still have to be solved!
Sapasma is the local municipal govt. organisation responsible for the provision of water to the SMA region.
Ernesto Lopez – chief engineer (Rotary have had several meetings with Ernesto in the early stages of the scoping of this project), discussed their plans for the installation of a well in the upper part of the Los Torres community. The community has paid for a study into the feasibility of the drilling of a well in LT. Water does exist there, at a level of 180metres deep.
They are currently drilling a well. It will provide water for Los Torres & their neighbours Montecillo de Nieto (approx 15 mins drive away).
Points to note
Sapasma did not divulge how much this will cost the people of LT or Montecillo
The water has not been tested (is almost 100% likely to be contaminated with fluoride like the water less than 500 mtres away in the family wells in the lower community) so will likely be only useful for household & not Drinking water
The level of the lower community wells have been decreasing at the rate of more than 1 metre per year, just from single household use. There has been no taking into account how quickly the aquifer will drop given that they plan to pipe it to the houses in 2 communities.
Water consumption increases dramatically when it is provided on tap & does not have to be carried!
Water consumption also increases when the consumption per family is hard to measure (ie when it is on tap with no water meter)
Pg 3 of 3
CEDESA
Chela introduced herself & her organisation’s purpose, ie to help camposinos live a sustainable existence & stay on the land.
She had some interesting questions for Sapasma about the sustainability of their approach & the extreme cost to the communities (both financially & cost to the environment). It was agreed that a combination of water supply was necessary as it’s currently not cost effective to build a cistern big enough to supply water to the entire community for all water needs.
She described the technologies that CEDESA teaches & asked the community leaders if there was an interest in – for example – dry toilets, water collection, back yard gardens, bee-keeping. They said they were very interested.
Rotary I explained that Rotary was very interested in helping in the area of Water. That we were looking to make the biggest difference to the most people for the least amount of money & briefly described our plan/project (at this stage).
Enrique said that there is a new DVD available that contains info. about communities that need help with water. He said there are many communities that have no water. I pointed out that we have tried many times with many different departments to identify these & he said this DVD would do the trick.
I will email him for a copy of the DVD.
Enrique Nunez – the presidencia representative
Enrique was very receptive & pro-active (he called the meeting!). He is high level local govt. & is very keen for all of the govt departments & NGO’s to work alongside the community to resolve any issues.
He re-iterated that the door is always open – as did the other department directors.
Enrique called the next meeting for 28th January – 11am – Presidencia office.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
13th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project
Record of Meeting pg 1 of 1
13th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Where: Los Torres – Health Fair (organised by Judy & Bill in conjunction with Health Dept)
When: Saturday 15th November 8am – 4pm
Who: Bob & Sue Leonard, Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) The patronato board, volunteers & staff & Health Department staff, Casa Volunteers & the whole community of Los Torres (& I suspect neighbouring communities)
Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Visit Purpose:
To volunteer at the Health Fair, get to know the community better, see how this day was organised & what it achieved.
Summary of Visit
We met at the Fabrica Aurora carpark & carpooled. I met Mary Caruso (medical director for Patronato Pro Nino) & Maria Aguilar & Juan Camacho – 2 Casa volunteers.
The day was a focus on health, there were various components, first priority was for the kids of the community to have fun.
Medical staff saw each of the 150 children, recorded names & health statistics.
There were 3 different “talks” for the mothers to attend, on preventing accidents in the home, diet & nutrition, hygiene/handwashing, health in pregnancy, & dental health.
The women received diploma’s for attending the talks.
The children received a free colgate toothbrush for visiting the doctor
We collated & the issued goody bags for the mothers, included were – liquid soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, thermometer, brochures on the topics.
We served beans, rice, chicken, tortillas, fruit, juice & water to approx 500 men, women & children from the community (& neighbours).
Important points
The focus was on having fun
There were 2 clowns that provided a fantastic service 1. keeping the kids entertained whilst their mums were in the “talks” but most importantly 2. to organise the children to see the doctors.
150 children were happily led to see the doctor with minimum waiting time. They were given stickers with number on them, the clowns then called for the children in groups, ie all the kids with number 1 stickers, came up to “play” with the clowns then were taken in 2’s to visit the doctor. They were rewarded with a toothbrush – which seemed like a great novelty!
There were 3 bouncy castles & soccer games going on as well.
At the end of the day there were a lot of smiling faces, they had received a goody bag, their diploma’s, information, health checks & a huge nutritious meal. They even had leftovers to take home!
Everyone agreed it was a very successful day (except Judy fell & broke her wrist very badly & had to leave before the end)!
13th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Where: Los Torres – Health Fair (organised by Judy & Bill in conjunction with Health Dept)
When: Saturday 15th November 8am – 4pm
Who: Bob & Sue Leonard, Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) The patronato board, volunteers & staff & Health Department staff, Casa Volunteers & the whole community of Los Torres (& I suspect neighbouring communities)
Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Visit Purpose:
To volunteer at the Health Fair, get to know the community better, see how this day was organised & what it achieved.
Summary of Visit
We met at the Fabrica Aurora carpark & carpooled. I met Mary Caruso (medical director for Patronato Pro Nino) & Maria Aguilar & Juan Camacho – 2 Casa volunteers.
The day was a focus on health, there were various components, first priority was for the kids of the community to have fun.
Medical staff saw each of the 150 children, recorded names & health statistics.
There were 3 different “talks” for the mothers to attend, on preventing accidents in the home, diet & nutrition, hygiene/handwashing, health in pregnancy, & dental health.
The women received diploma’s for attending the talks.
The children received a free colgate toothbrush for visiting the doctor
We collated & the issued goody bags for the mothers, included were – liquid soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, thermometer, brochures on the topics.
We served beans, rice, chicken, tortillas, fruit, juice & water to approx 500 men, women & children from the community (& neighbours).
Important points
The focus was on having fun
There were 2 clowns that provided a fantastic service 1. keeping the kids entertained whilst their mums were in the “talks” but most importantly 2. to organise the children to see the doctors.
150 children were happily led to see the doctor with minimum waiting time. They were given stickers with number on them, the clowns then called for the children in groups, ie all the kids with number 1 stickers, came up to “play” with the clowns then were taken in 2’s to visit the doctor. They were rewarded with a toothbrush – which seemed like a great novelty!
There were 3 bouncy castles & soccer games going on as well.
At the end of the day there were a lot of smiling faces, they had received a goody bag, their diploma’s, information, health checks & a huge nutritious meal. They even had leftovers to take home!
Everyone agreed it was a very successful day (except Judy fell & broke her wrist very badly & had to leave before the end)!
Friday, November 7, 2008
12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2
12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Where: CEDESA Dolores (approx 1 hr from SMA)
When: Friday 7th November 8am – 4pm
Who: Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) Maria Jesus, Maria de la Concepcion, Maria Leova (& son), Cecilia (& son), Hilaria, (Community leaders Los Torres), Chela & Tere Martinez, Holly Yasui, Benigno & partner, & 1 other woman (from CEDESA).
Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Visit Purpose:
For the women of Los Torres to be introduced to the people of CEDESA, what they do & what they can offer. Ultimately for the people of Los Torres to decide if they need assistance to “mobilise” the community & run the water project.
Summary of Visit
The Fishers & I each drove out to Los Torres (Holly waited at the highway for us), & collected the women & children, to drive them to CEDESA in Dolores (a nearby town).
We arrived at CEDESA & met with the CEDESA team, introductions all round. We sat in a semi circle & watched another DVD, this one on the topic of water & conservation.
The discussion was then about what CEDESA does & has done by way of assisting communities to take their own issues & solutions in their own hands. Chela impressed upon the women that they have the skills & ability to be responsible for their own wellbeing & that they need not be reliant on govt. & outside organisations but better work with them towards solving issues & improving the prospects of the community.
There was a lot of discussion (all in Spanish – with Holly translating for me if I missed something). The focus was water & what the women believed the issues were: Scarcity, contamination of fluoride (see important points below), Sapasma & proposed well, river that dries part way through the dry season, cost to buy water, sporadic delivery by municipal trucks.
We had a bite to eat & a cup of tea.
Chela then organised discussion on solutions, she said that each person/family needs to be responsible for their own health, access to water etc. That they need to discuss problems & solutions & work together to solve it, & that the answers were in their hands.
The problem of water can help organise the community!
Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2
12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
The women said they knew the issues but were unsure how to solve them & asked for help with this.
They decided an assembly was necessary & agreed that on 22nd November CEDESA would travel to Los Torres & help facilitate an assembly with the major discussion being on water issues & solutions.
We were given a tour of CEDESA viewing all of the sustainable technologies they have implemented & provide training on - dry toilets, grey water recycling, backyard gardens, water collection tanks, with discussion about the beehives & fields for crop production.
The women of Los Torres indicated they would be very interested in learning more about natural health methods, & backyard gardens (with the aim to improve the family economy) & also beekeeping.
We then drove them home to Los Torres.
Important points
In previous visits to Los Torres, we (Rotary) had been reluctant to raise the topic of fluoride contamination. The people in the community – although most were showing an obvious symptom of fluorosis – bad teeth – did not have an awareness of the issue. We were unsure how to “break the news”, considering we had no cure or solution to offer.
In the last 2 wks a dental health van- provided by Patronato Pro Ninos, in conjunction with the dept of health - has visited Los Torres & treated the children. During this time the subject of fluoride contamination has been raised & the community now has an awareness of this issue.
They are currently at a loss as to how to solve this, especially since the only source of water they can rely on, comes from contaminated wells.
Action
The Los Torres women will organise an assembly to be held at the school in Los Torres on 22nd Nov at 12midday. They will first publicise it at the forthcoming Health Fair (PPN & Health dept), on the 15th Nov & then will go door to door to explain the purpose & illicit support.
It was suggested they write the pertinent points on a piece of paper & use that as a reference when they talk to each household, in order to cover all points.
Thank you
12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
Where: CEDESA Dolores (approx 1 hr from SMA)
When: Friday 7th November 8am – 4pm
Who: Laura (Rotary), Judy & Bill (Patronato Pro Ninos) Maria Jesus, Maria de la Concepcion, Maria Leova (& son), Cecilia (& son), Hilaria, (Community leaders Los Torres), Chela & Tere Martinez, Holly Yasui, Benigno & partner, & 1 other woman (from CEDESA).
Project Purpose - SMA Rotary has tasked Bob & Laura with defining the “needs” & determining the best proposal, for a major water Project involving the writing of a competitive grant for approx. US$100K.
Rationale: As part of the process of defining the “need” we will meet with as many people as possible that are directly involved in the provision of, or are aware of the need for the provision of, safe drinking water solutions to marginal communities.
Visit Purpose:
For the women of Los Torres to be introduced to the people of CEDESA, what they do & what they can offer. Ultimately for the people of Los Torres to decide if they need assistance to “mobilise” the community & run the water project.
Summary of Visit
The Fishers & I each drove out to Los Torres (Holly waited at the highway for us), & collected the women & children, to drive them to CEDESA in Dolores (a nearby town).
We arrived at CEDESA & met with the CEDESA team, introductions all round. We sat in a semi circle & watched another DVD, this one on the topic of water & conservation.
The discussion was then about what CEDESA does & has done by way of assisting communities to take their own issues & solutions in their own hands. Chela impressed upon the women that they have the skills & ability to be responsible for their own wellbeing & that they need not be reliant on govt. & outside organisations but better work with them towards solving issues & improving the prospects of the community.
There was a lot of discussion (all in Spanish – with Holly translating for me if I missed something). The focus was water & what the women believed the issues were: Scarcity, contamination of fluoride (see important points below), Sapasma & proposed well, river that dries part way through the dry season, cost to buy water, sporadic delivery by municipal trucks.
We had a bite to eat & a cup of tea.
Chela then organised discussion on solutions, she said that each person/family needs to be responsible for their own health, access to water etc. That they need to discuss problems & solutions & work together to solve it, & that the answers were in their hands.
The problem of water can help organise the community!
Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2
12th Exploratory Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee
The women said they knew the issues but were unsure how to solve them & asked for help with this.
They decided an assembly was necessary & agreed that on 22nd November CEDESA would travel to Los Torres & help facilitate an assembly with the major discussion being on water issues & solutions.
We were given a tour of CEDESA viewing all of the sustainable technologies they have implemented & provide training on - dry toilets, grey water recycling, backyard gardens, water collection tanks, with discussion about the beehives & fields for crop production.
The women of Los Torres indicated they would be very interested in learning more about natural health methods, & backyard gardens (with the aim to improve the family economy) & also beekeeping.
We then drove them home to Los Torres.
Important points
In previous visits to Los Torres, we (Rotary) had been reluctant to raise the topic of fluoride contamination. The people in the community – although most were showing an obvious symptom of fluorosis – bad teeth – did not have an awareness of the issue. We were unsure how to “break the news”, considering we had no cure or solution to offer.
In the last 2 wks a dental health van- provided by Patronato Pro Ninos, in conjunction with the dept of health - has visited Los Torres & treated the children. During this time the subject of fluoride contamination has been raised & the community now has an awareness of this issue.
They are currently at a loss as to how to solve this, especially since the only source of water they can rely on, comes from contaminated wells.
Action
The Los Torres women will organise an assembly to be held at the school in Los Torres on 22nd Nov at 12midday. They will first publicise it at the forthcoming Health Fair (PPN & Health dept), on the 15th Nov & then will go door to door to explain the purpose & illicit support.
It was suggested they write the pertinent points on a piece of paper & use that as a reference when they talk to each household, in order to cover all points.
Thank you
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